HEDD Audio HEDDphone D1 - Frequency Response Measurements & Discussion Thread

Freddy Knop from HEDD said on Friday that shipment is already on the way to the US and should hit the shelf’s within the next two weeks.

They seemed to be a bit surprised by the success/demand.

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Interesting comparison.

After seeing and reading several reviews of the D1, one might have thought it was either a disguised Sennheiser HD600 with a bit more bass, or an HD650 with slightly clearer treble.

To that, I say… a resounding NO!

All these three headphones have in common is their natural reproduction of the midrange frequencies.

Paired with their respective best audio chains, the very first listen with the first test track

immediately reveals a massive difference between the D1 and both Sennheisers: driver speed, crispness, clarity, imaging… and again, speed, so much more speed than both Sennheisers, almost planar quality… only sounding more natural.

This is a factor I expected, however, as the Sennheisers are indeed getting on in years and were already inferior to other headphones in their price segment in these categories.

The Sennheisers are still good headphones, but good… not very good or outstanding.

I would, however, classify the D1 as very good; in my opinion, it sounds closer to the 2400€ Austrian Audio Composer than to the Sennheiser 6xx series.

But as I said, that’s just my humble opinion. :man_shrugging:

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Thanks for this comparison.

Would you say they get closer when used with the same amp?

As I have also a Feliks Euforia (EVO), I would be interested how you like the D1 with the Euforia?

A comparison between the D1 and the Sennheiser HD 490 Pro would be a interesting comparison. I find the HD 490 Pro with Sonarwarks EQ to be slightly above the HD 650.

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Agreed. Same intended application, both recent vintage. That would be a very helpful comparison.

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Nice little comparison. I’m interested in trying them out on some tube amps. Hear it helps them a bit.

And that 8k peak is real… at least for me. Can’t use them. Also felt 1990 has some serious grain to it vs the HD800S.

Recently picked up the D1. Was hard to find in stock! Solid headphone overall, tho still trying to see what works best as for synergy. I lean towards my diy aegis amp atm. Still haven’t tried the mojo 2 or woo tube mini.

So I might be in the minority here…lol. I don’t care for the ear pads that much. Feel a little small and not as soft as I hoped for. I don’t mind the headband pad, though it could be a little softer. But I was thinking about different ear pads. I recently picked up a pair of Soulwit cooling pads for the HD650 (based on DMS recommendation). And they’re amazing for an aftermarket senn pad. Very close to stock sound. Anyways it got me thinking about the D1 so I started messing around. The pads come off easily. You can remove the rings and slide on your pad of choice. I have some ZMF pads laying around so I threw on the universe (I believe that’s what these are) hybrid pads. And I think these are very close to stock tuning, maybe a tad warmer (which is fine to me). Need more time to A/B but not bad. And definitely more comfortable to me.

Edit: the additional padding slack that you see at the bottom can be avoided if you know you want to keep this pad on. Just cut little slits where the clips are on the rings and it’ll be like stock.

For you guys who love to mod, have at it! Let me know what you think!

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It seems stock pads become softer after some time.

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I listened to the Brent Lewis album (lossless) via Apple Music through my PC, comparing the D1 with the HD600. The electronics were a Topping D50s DAC and Schiit Midgard amp. The D1 clearly had deeper bass and harder-hitting attacks and transients. I would not call it a massive difference, but it wasn’t hard to hear it in this material.

I’ve been reading your opinions and latest reviews: is it a worthy addition/upgrade to a Hifiman Edition XS? I am thinking on what can add variety/fun to me listening music through XS whenever I would like something different. According to the ‘2025 awards’ I see D1 and Edition XV as possible options. What do you think?

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@listener: any chance of getting the D1’s response curve posted to your 5128 GitHub? Many thanks in advance.

Sorry, I don’t usually upload Andrew’s frequency response measurements to my 5128 database except in rare, exceptional cases (and with permission). The D1 frequency response will be available on Headphones.com’s database when that goes live.

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Too bad, but certainly understandable. Will the Headphones.com database be linked to Squiglink?

Nope, it’ll be entirely separate.

Too bad again. That being the case, I respectfully request that consideration be given toward offering a tool/utility into which one could import response plots from the database and EQ them to an appropriate target curve (such as the 5128 DF in this particular case). Thanks again. :slightly_smiling_face:

I don’t know that we’d advocate doing that specifically TBH, given what we know to be the case about listener preference ranges. Though perhaps we’ll have an EQ function for what we’re developing in the future.

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Thanks Andrew. I’m well aware of your thoughts on this subject… mine are continuing to evolve with experience.

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I’m also interested in DT1990 comparisons. I really enjoyed the DT1990 for recording music as they helped with hearing details when tweaking reverb and delay fx. They had lovely bass, midrange and sounded quite airy for a semi-open headphone, although perhaps that’s more due to FR more than the small vents? They were also quite beautiful for the German tank build and comfortable, a nice headphone to use. I however found the DT1990 a touch too sharp to keep as a studio or pleasure headphone and have been waiting for a replacement to come along, the D1 seems to tick every box.

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